Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique has said that he would like to have three attackers that have the same output as France captain Kylian Mbappé (24), but that that simply “isn’t possible.”
PSG are comfortably the league’s top scorers in Ligue 1 this season with 34 goals. AS Monaco are their nearest challenger with 27 goals, however, Les Parisiens’ efficiency in front of goal has been called into question following the midweek draw against Newcastle United.
Les Parisiens scored only one goal from 4.47 expected goals against Newcastle, a negative differential of 3.47 which is the highest for any time in the Champions League since Opta collected data on the competition in 2013/14. Enrique’s side managed to equalise against the Premier League side through a penalty controversially given for handball in the last minute of injury time.
PSG over-reliant on Mbappé?
And whilst PSG are the top scorers in France this season, Mbappé has 14 of the club’s 34 goals and questions are being asked about an over-reliance, especially in the wake of the summer departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar, both of whom contributed considerably with goals and assists last season.
However, Luis Enrique says that having two other attackers that match Mbappé’s output isn’t possible. “I would like to have three attackers like Mbappé that each score 17 goals but it isn’t possible. Last year, there were three global stars and they shared the goals. There are lots of players that have scored. We don’t just depend on Kylian, well, we do depend on him but others have scored. If we took Kylian out, obviously we have no other player that has scored 17 goals, but maybe we would have five others that would have scored five each,” said Luis Enrique in a pre-match press conference, transcribed by L’Équipe.
Whilst Luis Enrique acknowledges the importance of Mbappé, he seems keen to counter the argument of an over-reliance on his talisman.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
